Method of cleaning the sealing surfaces of doors and door jambs of by-product coke ovens

ABSTRACT

THE CLEANING APPARATUS INCLUDES A CLEANING TOOL WITH A BASE PORTION HAVING A PAIR OF SPACED SCRAPERS EXTENDING THEREFROM IN DIVERGING RELATION TO EACH OTHER. AN ARM MEMBER EXTENDS REARWARDLY FROM THE CLEANING TOOL BASE PORTION. A ROD MEMBER IS PIVOTALLY SECURED TO THE REAR END PORTION OF THE ARM MEMBER AN EXTENDS FORWARDLY THEREFROM TOWARD THE CLEANING TOOL BASE PORTION. AN INTERMEDIATE TUBULAR SUPPORT MEMBER IS COAXIALLY POSTIONED ON THE ROD MEMBER HAS A TRANSVERSE CONNECTING POTION ADJECENT THE FRONT END. A PAIR OF LEVERS IS CONNECTED TO THE TRANSVERSE CONNECTING MEMBER AND EXTEND REARWARDLY THEREFROM AND THE OTHER ENDS OF THE PAIR OF LEVERS ARE PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO A FIXED FRAME MEMBER. A DRIVE   MECHANISM IS PROVIDED TO RECIPROCALLY MOVE THE CLEANING TOLL ALONG A SEALING SURFACE OF A COKE OVEN DOOR OR DOOR JAMB. A SPRING BETWEEN THE ROD AND TUBULAR SUPPORT MEMBER URGES THE CLEANING TOOL AGAINST THE SEALING SURFACE AND THE FRICTION BETWEEN THE SCRAPER PORTION OF THE CLEANING TOOL AND SEALING SURFACE PIVOTS THE CLEANING TOOL AND ARM MEMBER RELATIVE TO THE LEVER MEMBERS SO THAT ONLY ONE SCRAPER CONTACTS THE SEALING SURFACE DURING THE CLEANING OPERATION.

ET AL 3,741,806

June 26, w, STANKE METHOD OF CLEANING THE SEALING SUM-ACES O1 DOORS AND DOOR JAMES OF BY-PRODUCT COKF OVENS Original Filed Oct. 13, 1969 INVENTORS WALTER STAN/(E 0nd GOTTFR/ED MERTENS Ilnir Alla/nay United States Patent 3,741,806 METHOD OF CLEANING THE SEALING SURFACES 0F DOORS AND DOOR JAMBS 0F BY-PRODUCT COKE OVENS Walter Stanke and Gottfried Mertens, Essen, Germany,

assignors to Heinrich Koppers Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Essen, Germany Original application Oct. 13, 1969, Ser. No. 865,637. Divided and this application Apr. 30, 1971, Ser. No. 138,956

Int. Cl. Cb 43/04 US. Cl. 134-6 2 Claims ABSTRACT on THE DISCLOSURE The cleaning apparatus includes a cleaning tool with a base portion having a pair of spaced scrapers extending therefrom in diverging relation to each other. An arm member extends rearwardly from the cleaning tool base portion. A rod member is pivotally secured to the rear end portion of the arm member and extends forwardly therefrom toward the cleaning tool base portion. An intermediate tubular support member is coaxially positioned on the rod member and has a transverse connecting portion adjacent the front end. A pair of levers is connected to the transverse connecting member and extend rearwardly therefrom and the other ends of the pair of levers are pivotally connected to a fixed frame member. A drive mechanism is provided to reciprocally move the cleaning tool along a sealing surface of a coke oven door or door jamb. A spring between the rod and tubular support member urges the cleaning tool against the sealing surface and the friction between the scraper portion of the cleaning tool and the sealing surface pivots the cleaning tool and arm member relative to the lever members so that only one scraper contacts the sealing surface during the cleaning operation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a division of United States patent application Ser. No. 865,637, filed Oct. 13, 1969 entitled Apparatus for Cleaning the Sealing Surfaces of Doors and Door Jambs of By-Product Coke Ovens.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention This invention relates to apparatus for cleaning surfaces and more particularly to apparatus for cleaning the sealing surfaces of doors and door jamhs of by-product coke ovens.

(2) Description of the prior art A conventional by-product coke oven battery includes a series of horizontal coke oven chambers with openings on opposite ends thereof. Coke oven doors seal the openings during the coking operation and are removed during the pushing or removal of the coke charge. It is essential, during the coking operation, that a positive seal exist between each coke oven door and the door jamb in which it is positioned. The conventional self-sealing coke oven doors include a frame with a raised knife edge portion and adjacent planar portions extending around the periphery of the door. The door jamb on the coke oven chamber also includes peripheral planar surfaces that mate with the knife edge portion of the door and other portions of the door to provide a seal therebetween. During the operation of the coke ovens, the sealing surfaces on the coke oven door and door jambs become encrusted with a carbonaceous material of a pitchy nature and this material must be completely removed from the sealing surfaces before the door can be replaced with a positive seal between the door and the underlying door jamb.

The known scraper type cleaning tools used to remove the encrusted carbonaceous material have scraping edges arranged at the same angle to the sealing surfaces and all the scraping edges are in abutting relation withthe sealing surfaces during the cleaning operation. The known scrapers are suitable for scraping off the deposits and pushing the dislodged deposits in front of the scraper as it moves linearly along the sealing edge or surface. When the direction of movement of the scraper or cleaning tool is reversed, the dislodged carbonaceous material, because of its pitchy nature, adheres to the sealing surface on either the door or the door jamb. This is especially true where a horizontal sealing surface forms a corner with a vertical sealing surface. Because of the above difiiculty, after the termination of the cleaning process, most of the sealing surface is free from deposits. Small accumulations of the adhered deposits remain, however, at the locations where the direction of the cleaning tools was reversed and also in the recessed corners. To obtain a reliable seal, it is now necessary in many instances, to manually remove the remaining adhered deposits. This reduces substantially the advantages of mechanical cleaning apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The hereinafter described door and door jamb cleaning apparatus eliminates the above-discussed problems in that only one of the scrapers is in abutting scraping relation with the sealing surface. Upon reversal, the scraper is lifted from the sealing surface in a manner that the deposits adhering to the scraper and the sealing surface are removed from the sealing surface with the scraper.

The cleaning apparatus includes a cleaning tool with a pair of spaced forwardly extending and diverging cleaning surfaces. The cleaning tool has a rearwardly extending arm member that is pivotally connected to a forwardly extending intermediate support. A pair of spaced levers is pivotally secured adjacent one end to the intermediate support and at the other end to a frame member. The pivot axis between the intermediate support and arm member is located between the pivot axes for the opposite ends of the lever member. A resilient means urges the cleaning tool against the sealing surface so that the friction between the scraper and the sealing surface during movement of the cleaning tool causes the arm and cleaning tool to pivot relative to the pair of lever members and engage only the front scraper in the direction of movecleaning tool is reversed, the trailing scaper is lifted from the sealing surface with the dislodged material adhering thereto. The cutting tool may also comprise several scraper blades positioned in overlying vertical relation to each other and arranged to cleaning sealing surfaces of different elevation at different cleaning pressures. Accordingly, the principal object of this invention is to provide scraper-like cleaning apparatus for the sealing surfaces of coke oven doors and door jambs that removes the dislodged carbonaceous material adhering to both the scraper and the sealing surface upon reversal in the direction of the cleaning tool.

Another object of this invention is to provide cleaning apparatus that effectively removes the dislodged carbonaceous material from corners between vetrical and horizontal sealing surfaces.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will be more completely disclosed and described in the following specification, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

3 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the cleaning apparatus for cleaning the upper horizontal sealing edge of a coke oven door.

FIG. 2 is a view in section taken along the line -IIII f FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Alhough the hereinafter description is, for illustrative purposes, directed to apparatus for cleaning the upper horizontal sealing edge of a coke oven door, apparatus similiar to that illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 may also be used for cleaning both the vertical and horizontal sealing surfaces of doors and door jambs of coke ovens and it is not intended to be restricted to the specific embodiment illustrated.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated schematically in FIGS. 1 and 2, a coke oven door generally designated by the numeral that includes a refractory plug 12, an upper horizontal sealing strip 14 and a pair of vertical sealing strips 16 and 18 illustrated by dotted lines in FIG. 1. The sealing strips 14 include a planar surface 20 and a forwardly extending knife edge type sealing surface 22. The junction between the vertical portions 16 and 18 and the horizontal portion 14 forms recessed corners 24.

The planar surface 20 and the knife edge portion 22 of door 10 accumulate carbonaceous sticky material thereon during the coking process and it is essential that the carbonaceous material be cleaned and removed therefrom before the door is again repositioned in the door jamb so that there is an effective seal therebetween. The coke oven door jamb has similar surfaces that accumulate carbonaceous material thereon that also has to be removed be fore an effective seal can be accomplished between the door and the door jamb.

Apparatus for cleaning the sealing surfaces is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the cleaning apparatus is generally designated by the numberal 26. Secured to the front end of the cleaning apparatus 26 adjacent the sealing surfaces of the coke oven door 10 is a cleaning tool generally designated by the numeral 28. The cleaning tool 28 has a first body portion 30 with a pair of forwardly extending scrapers or scraper blades 32 and 34. The scrapers 32 and 34 are spaced from each other and are in diverging relation to each other. The scrapers 32 and 34 are arranged to remove the carbonaceous deposits from the horizontal planar surface 20. The cleaning tool 28 also has a second body portion 36 that is secured to the first mentioned body portion 30. A pair of scrapers 38 and 40 extend forwardly from the body portion 36 and are in diverging relation to each other. The scrapers 38 and 40 are positioned above the scrapers 32 and 34 and are arranged to abut the knife edge sealing surface 22 and remove the carbonaceous material therefrom. The upper portion of cleaning tool 28 comprising body portion 36 and scrapers 38 and '40 may be fabricated of a more resilient material than the scrapers 32 and 34 so that a predetermined scraping pressure is exerted on the selected sealing surfaces 20 and 22.

The cleaning tool body portion 30 is secured to a transverse member 42 that forms a portion of the arm member generally designated by the numeral 44. The arm member 44 extends rearwardly from the cleaning tool 28 and has an upper plate member 46 and a lower plate member 48 that are arranged in parallel relation to each other and h'ave a pair of aligned apertures 50 and 52 adjacent the rear end portion. A cylindrical bearing 54 extends between the aligned apertures 50 and 52 and bolt 56 secures the plates 46 and 48 in spaced relation adjacent the rear end portion.

An intermediate support generally designated by the numeral 60 is positioned between the plates 46 and 48 of arm member 44 and includes a rod member 62 that is threadedly secured in a transverse sleeve 64. The sleeve 64 is coaxially positioned around the bolt 56 so that the axis of bolt 56 provides a pivot axis between the rear end of the arm 44 and the rear end of the intermediate support 60. The rod member 62 with sleeve 64, is free to rotate about the bolt 56 to thereby provide a pivot connection therebetween. The rod 62 extends forwardly from the sleeve 64 and is positioned within a horizontal slotted portion 66 and the member 42. A tubular member 68 is coaxially positioned on the rod member 62 and has an end portion 70 with an aperture 72 therethrough for the rod 62. The rod 62 has an annular clamp 74 thereon and spring 76 is positioned between the clamp 74 and the tubular end portion 70. The spring 76, as later explained, is arranged to urge the cleaning tool 28 into abutting relation with the sealing surfaces.

The tubular member 68 has a pair of transverse channel members 78 and 80 secured thereto and extending transversely beyond the edges of the members 46 and 48. The channel members 78 and 80 have vertical aligned apertures therethrough for receiving bolts 82 and 84.

Positioned above the arm member 44 and intermediate support 60 is a pair of levers 86 and 90. The front ends of levers 86 and 90 are pivotally secured to the transverse members 78 and 80 of intermediate support 60 by means of bolts 82 and 84. The opposite ends of the levers 86 and 90 are pivotally secured to the frame member 92 by bolts 94 and 96. With this arrangement, the levers 86 and 90 are operable to move the cleaning tool 28 in a generally arcuate path relative to the sealing surfaces 20 and 22. As later explained, the spring 76 compensates for the arcuate path and maintains the scraper blades in abutting relation with the sealing surfaces 20 and 22.

The apparatus for pivoting the levers 86 and 90 includes an arcuate gear segment 98 nonrotatably connected to the lever 86 through a flexible coupling 100. A pinion gear 102 meshes with the gear segment 98 and is driven through a suitable reducer 104 by motor 106. With this arrangement, the gear segment 98 rotates levers 86 and 90 so that the levers pivot about the pivot axes of bolts 94 and 96 to follow the arcuate path illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 1. Upon reversal the levels 86 and 90 move the cleaning tool 28 in the opposite direction to thereby move the cleaning tool 28 reciprocally along the sealing surfaces to thereby remove the accumulation of carbonaceous material by the scrapers extending forwardly from the cleaning tool 28.

OPERATION The cleaning apparatus 26 operates in the following manner. The frame member 92 is moved into the position illustrated in FIG. 2 relative to the coke oven door 10. The frame is advanced so that the scrapers 32, 34, 38 and 40 abut the respective surfaces 20 and 22 and the frame 92 is advanced further to compress the spring 76 between the abutments 72 and 74 to thereby continually urge the scraper blades against the sealing surfaces.

When the motor 106 is energized, the levers 86 and 90 are pivotally moved, for illustrative purposes, toward the phantom illustration of the arm 44. Before linear move ment of the cleaning tool is initiated, there is frictional contact between the front edge of the scrapers and the sealing surfaces. The force exerted by the levers 86 and 90 is opposed by the frictional force between the scraper blade and the sealing surface. The frictional force pivots the arm 44 about the pivot axis of bolt 56 to lift the rear scraper blade away from the sealing surface, as is illustrated in phantom in FIG. 1. With this arrangement, the only scraper blade in contact with the sealing surface is the front scraper blade, determined by the direction of movement of the cleaning tool. The same is true for the blades 38 and 40. It should be noted that the transverse members 78 and 80 are movable between the plates '46 and 48 of the arm 44 to compensate for the arcuate movement as illustrated in FIG. 1.

When the scraper blade moves to the end of the sealing strip, as illustrated in phantom in FIG. 1, the flexible coupling retains a pressure on the levers 86 and 90 to maintain the cleaning tool 28 in the position illustrated in phantom. When the direction of motion of the clean- 5 ing tool 28 is reversed, the scrapers 32 and 38 are first lifted from the sealing surfaces 20 and 22 before the cleaning tool 28 begins movement in the opposite direction. The frictional resistance between the scraper blades 34 and 40 and surfaces 20 and 22 first pivots the arm 44 in the direction opposite to that illustrated in FIG. 1 to thereby first lift the scrapers 32 and 38 from the sealing surfaces. The lifting of the scrapers 32 and 38 from the sealing surfaces removes the dislodged sticky deposits that were transported to this location from the sealing surfaces. The scrapers 34 and 40 that were simultaneously applied when scrapers 32 and 38 were lifted, now scrape the sealing surfaces to the other end of the sealing strip. This motion may be repeated several times to thereby remove all of the carbonaceous material.

With this arrangement, Where the pivot axis for the arm 44 and the intermediate support 60 is positioned behind the pivot axis for the levers 86 and 90 and the front portion of the intermediate support 60, the arm 44 will automatically pivot so that only one scraper blade in the direction of movement of the cleaning tool is in abutting cleaning relation with the sealing surface. It should be noted that the cleaning tool has a pair of scraper blades that diverge away from each other at an obtuse angle to the body portion. This arrangement facilitates the removal of the sticky carbonceous material when the scraper blade is removed from the sealing surface.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explained the principle, preferred construction and mode of operation of our invention and have illustrated and described what we now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, it should be understood that, Within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

1. The method of removing carbonaceous residue from 6 the sealing surfaces of a by-product coke oven comprismg:

positioning a pivotable cleaning tool having a pair of spaced divergent scrapers substantially rigidly connected thereto against the sealing surface to be cleaned so that both of said scrapers are in abutting relation with the sealing surface,

exerting a force on said cleaning tool in a direction toward said sealing surface while maintaining both of said scrapers in abutting relation with the sealing surface,

moving said cleaning tool in a lineal direction along said sealing surface and thereby pivoting said cleaning tool so that only one of said scrapers is in abutting relation with said sealing surface, and

thereafter moving said cleaning tool linearly in one direction along said sealing surface with only one of said scrapers removing the carbonaceous residue from said sealing surface.

2. The method of removing carbonaceous residue from the sealing surfaces of a by-product coke oven as set forth in claim 1 which includes,

reversing the linear direction of said cleaning tool,

stopping the linear movement of said cleaning tool in said one direction, pivoting said cleaning tool to lift said scraper with carbonaceous residue adhering thereto away from said sealing surface and positioning said other scraper in abutting relation with said sealing surface, and

thereafter moving said cleaning tool linearly in the other direction.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,056,699 10/1962 Randell et al 1345 3,264,667 8/1966 Frank 1593 B LEON G. MACHLIN, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

Flo-.1050 UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE CURRECTIQN Patent No. 3,741, Dated June 26 1973 Invent0r(8) Walter Stanke and Gottfried Mertens It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

"direction of move -cleaningtoo'l is Column 2, Lines 49, 50 ,l

' reversed," should read 'direction of movement of the cleaning tool. When the direction of the cleaning tool is reversed,

"material from corners between vetrical" Column 2, Line 64' 4 should read --material from corners between vertical-- Signed and sealed this 27th day of November 1973.

( TE Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER ,JR. RENE D. TEGTMEYER v v Acting Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

